BP bump!
Posted on 06/26/2005 3:19:20 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
Growing up the son of traveling migrant farm workers, Fernando Beltran remembers what La Migra, the Border Patrol, meant to some of his parents co-workers.
"Some of us younger ones would laugh at how quick the illegals would run off the fields at the sight of the agents," Beltran said. "But they would return to work the next day and so would the agents. It was like a cat and mouse game."
But for Beltran the adult, the "cat and mouse" game represents something much different.
Now 43, the Mexican-American is Field Operations Supervisor at a station in North Laredo for the Border Patrol, marking his fourteenth year working in the Gateway City.
Border Patrol officials said approximately 50 percent of agents who work along the U.S.-Mexico border are of Hispanic descent and are first-and second-generation U.S. citizens.
"The Border Patrol should no longer have the image of a white guy in a green uniform against a Hispanic," said Supervisor Patrol Agent Juan Luis Acosta, 32, while making a patrol round near the Rio Grande in west Laredo. "Many Latinos are now the face of our agency."
While it may seem like a conflict for some Latinos, Beltran said a Border Patrol agents allegiance to the United States.
Acosta said agents dont like to talk publicly about their jobs and get accustomed to hearing critics who help them "develop a tough skin," but that the reaction depends on whos asking what.
He particularly remembers when an illegal immigrant asked him if he remembered where his parents came from.
"Some people ask me how I can do my job. (They) look at me like I am a hypocrite. But (from) the ranchers and many locals (who) know the dangers of our job, we get much support," Acosta said.
Beltran, who today oversees younger agents, said they face the added threat of terrorism which he says shouldnt be underestimated.
"You dont know from (skin color) if that running illegal is chasing the American dream or (is) out to destroy it," Acosta agreed.
Senior Patrol Agent Jessy Bueno, one of only 10 female agents in the Laredo area, said compassion is also a key in being a good agent and dealing with "tragedy" that comes with the job.
"The hardest part for most of us is seeing the abandoned kids (who) get lost from their parents or cross alone from Mexico to join their families (who are) already here," said Bueno, whose mother is Mexican and father Colombian. "You cant be a good Border Patrol agent if you arent a humanitarian."
During a recent visit to the Laredo South Station, Bueno observed a trio of teenagers from Honduras awaiting deportation while Acosta checked on a Salvadoran boy napping in the toy room that local agents have created from donated toys and blankets.
"Some of the people you apprehend are starving, thirsty and sick. In some cases, we save them from the perils of the heat," Acosta said. "When you see what they have gone through, you ask yourself, was it an arrest or a rescue?"
Acosta and Bueno, who together work at a Border Patrol station in South Laredo, see having Latino roots as beneficial to their job.
"Just being Latino or Latina, you can pick up the immigrants accent. If you have been around it all (of) your life and are attuned to it, that puts the immigrant at ease," Acosta said.
Agents like Beltran and Acosta say their job motivation comes from wanting to protect the country to which their parents came for its opportunity.
"Our immigrant parents support us in what we do because they know we are protecting the country they worked so hard to get to and we are just enforcing the law," Acosta said. "Its our job, but its not an easy one."
(Francisco Vara-Orta can be reached at (956) 728-2562 or fvara@lmtonline.com.)
Hey, my ancestors pushed aside some Indians to build their homes, wilderness taverns, farms...
I've got a nice reality block, too.
But the Indians we dealt with pushed out other bands of natives before we arrived, so it's just the nature of man...not a trait of any one or two groups...to migrate looking for better land when survival is hard or the spirit of adventure and curiosity and challenge are high.
That sentence is a mess. I'm going to assume that it should read:
While it may seem like a conflict for some Latinos, Beltran said a Border Patrol agents agent's allegiance [is] to the United States.
La migra ping!
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off this South Texas/Mexico ping list.
Texas Minuteman bump. Interesting article, something to think about...
Latino BP agents are enforcing the laws which the gringo President refuses to acknowledge.
BP bump!
No citizenship for the children of illegal invaders
Well at least some one gets it!
Rather obvious who the real American patriots are.
Beltran, who today oversees younger agents, said they face the added threat of terrorism which he says shouldnt be underestimated.
"You dont know from (skin color) if that running illegal is chasing the American dream or (is) out to destroy it," Acosta agreed.
In case anyone missed it in the middle of the article. :)
What would Mexico do if we decided to migrate south? They would shoot us dead.
At which point they begin deporting us
Protect our borders and coastlines from all foreign invaders!
Be Ever Vigilant!
Minutemen Patriots ~ Bump!
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